In recent years, violent extremism conducive to terrorism has significantly increased in West Africa and the Sahel region. The GCTF Capacity-Building in the West Africa Region Working Group convened a virtual workshop to discuss this subject focusing on narratives, mindsets and behaviors.

The GCTF Criminal Justice and Rule of Law Working Group organized a one-off meeting to explore the relevance of transitional justice approaches in contexts with a terrorism dimension, and to look at opportunities and challenges for how transitional justice approaches may contribute to a comprehensive, rights-based, rule-of-law approach to foreign terrorist fighters.

The GCTF Capacity-Building in the East Africa Region Working Group convened its Fourth Plenary Meeting focused on the nexus between terrorism and transnational organized crime. The discussion enabled a better understanding of emerging trends, the identification of lessons learned, good practices and existing gaps to tackle the nexus.

The GCTF Capacity-Building in the West Africa Region Working Group convened a virtual workshop on countering the financing of terrorism. The workshop provided an opportunity for regional actors to share lessons learned, good practices, and results achieved.

The GCTF convened two exploratory dialogues on Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremism (REMVE). These discussions advanced a common understanding of this threat among the Forum’s members, including through exploring differences in terminology, and considering how existing GCTF resources can contribute to efforts to counter this driver of instability. 

The GCTF Criminal Justice and Rule of Law (CJ-ROL) Working Group, co-chaired by Nigeria and Switzerland, held a Review Meeting to discuss the draft Memorandum on Criminal Justice Approaches to the Linkages between Terrorism and International Crimes (War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity, Genocide), Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling.

International and inter-agency cooperation is key to bringing terrorists to justice. Exchanging on good practices and on existing gaps is important to advance collective expertise and to identify practical solutions. The Capacity-Building in the West Africa Region Working Group convened a virtual workshop focused on police cooperation in the context of counterterrorism.

The GCTF Capacity-Building in the East and West Africa Region Working Groups organized a joint workshop on Border Security Management. Effective land, air and maritime border security and management are critical to ensure international security and economic growth.

The GCTF Capacity-Building in the East Africa Region Working Group organized a virtual workshop on promoting dialogue and community resilience. The workshop identified lessons learned from East Africa, emerging activities, and recommendations on how best to engage in dialogue and resilience building in the region.